The chapter 'The Mythmaker' was my favorite of the book. Although he bows to his friend Olivier's superior imagination, Jean-Do does a pretty good job, too--imagining himself as a race car driver, a soldier, & a downhill skier. The chapter ends:

I can still hear the roar of the crowd on the slope and the singing of the wind in my ears. I was miles ahead of the favorites. I swear!

Now, that's what I like to imagine--things I would love to do & have never done before! However, I don't know if I could let my imagination soar like Jean-Do did if I was in the same circumstances.

I knew a kid in elementary school who could weave tales just as tall as Olivier!

I'm having a thought here. . . .. . if you simply try to tell the truth you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.--C.S. Lewis

magpie wrote:Now, that's what I like to imagine--things I would love to do & have never done before! However, I don't know if I could let my imagination soar like Jean-Do did if I was in the same circumstances.

That is what I spend most of my imagination on, too, Magpie...in the future, imagining what I want to do.

Gemini, I'm glad you finally posted. My dreams are rather personal too. That's cool that you moved to one of those far-away places. I wouldn't mind retiring there.

Parlez, glad you could break away from your conference for this question. Do feel free to post more on this thread when you return.

You can't judge a book by its cover.

The only thing that matters is the ending. It's the most important part of the story.

Parlez wrote:What Jean-Do discovered (or rediscovered) during his ordeal is that his imagination could take him anywhere - as far as he wanted to go and also as close as he wanted to be (as in tasting food). The ability to do that is not unique, IMO, it resides in each and every one of us. It just takes some practice. And, being full-functioning, we perhaps feel daydreaming, imagining, visioning, etc., is a luxury we never seem to have time for. We live in a time-bound world that leave precious little room for such things. Pity.

Parlez, maybe that was part of Jean-Do's purpose in writing about some of these things, to make us stop and take notice of the richness in our daily lives. His memories made those sensations more intense, and by capturing their essence, he reminds us to enjoy what we have.